Former NPR CEO admits conservatives are not what media reports

This_person

Well-Known Member
Ken Stern said:
"This may seem like an unusual admission from someone who once ran NPR, but it is borne of recent experience. Spurred by a fear that red and blue America were drifting irrevocably apart, I decided to venture out from my overwhelmingly Democratic neighborhood and engage Republicans where they live, work and pray. For an entire year, I embedded myself with the other side, standing in pit row at a NASCAR race, hanging out at Tea Party meetings and sitting in on Steve Bannon’s radio show. I found an America far different from the one depicted in the press and imagined by presidents (“cling to guns or religion”) and presidential candidates (“basket of deplorables”) alike."

"I spent many Sundays in evangelical churches and hung out with 15,000 evangelical youth at the Urbana conference. I wasn’t sure what to expect among thousands of college-age evangelicals, but I certainly didn’t expect the intense discussion of racial equity and refugee issues — how to help them, not how to keep them out — but that is what I got.
At Urbana, I met dozens of people who were dedicating their lives to the mission, spreading the good news of Jesus, of course, but doing so through a life of charity and compassion for others: staffing remote hospitals, building homes for the homeless and, in one case, flying a “powered parachute” over miles of uninhabited jungle in the western Congo to bring a little bit of entertainment, education and relief to some of the remotest villages you could imagine. It was all inspiring — and a little foolhardy, if you ask me about the safety of a powered parachute — but it left me with a very different impression of a community that was previously known to me only through Jerry Falwell and the movie “Footloose.”

I linked up with a group of friends from Houston who belied the demographic stereotyping of the hunt; collectively we were the equivalent of a bad bar joke: a Hispanic ex-soldier, a young black family man, a Serbian immigrant and a Jew from DC.
None of my new hunting partners fit the lazy caricature of the angry NRA member. Rather, they saw guns as both a shared sport and as a necessary means to protect their families during uncertain times. In truth, the only one who was even modestly angry was me, and that only had to do with my terrible ineptness as a hunter. In the end though, I did bag a pig, or at least my new friends were willing to award me a kill, so that we could all glory together in the fraternity of the hunt."

“Over the course of this past year, I have tried to consume media as they do and understand it as a partisan player. It is not so hard to do. Take guns. Gun control and gun rights is one of our most divisive issues, and there are legitimate points on both sides. But media is obsessed with the gun-control side and gives only scant, mostly negative, recognition to the gun-rights sides.
Take for instance the issue of the legitimate defensive gun use (DGUs), which is often dismissed by the media as myth. But DGUs happen all the time — 200 times a day, according to the Department of Justice, or 5,000 times a day according to an overly exuberant Florida State University study. But whichever study you choose to believe, DGUs happen frequently and give credence to my hunting friends who see their guns as the last line of defense for themselves and their families.
At one point during my research, I discovered a video of a would-be robber entering a Houston smoke shop, his purpose conveyed by the pistol that he leveled at the store clerk. But the robber was not the only armed person in the store. The security cameras show Raleigh, the store clerk, walking out from behind the counter, calmly raising his own gun and firing an accurate stream of bullets at the hapless robber. The wounded robber stumbles out, falls over the curb and eventually ends up under arrest.
It is not just the defensive gun use that makes the video remarkable — it is Raleigh himself who evidences such a nonchalance that he never bothers to put down the cigarette that he is smoking. At the end, Raleigh, having protected his store, enthuses “Castle Doctrine, baby” — citing a law that allows a person to use force to defend a legally occupied place.
It is an amazing story, though far from unique, but you simply won’t find many like it in mainstream media (I found it on Reddit).
It’s not that media is suppressing stories intentionally. It’s that these stories don’t reflect their interests and beliefs.”

His last sentence in that paragraph is particularly telling. Most in the mainstream media do not believe that there is a liberal bias because they have never stepped out their comfort zone like Stern did. Stern is a former CEO of NPR, one of the most influential media entities in the nation. Even he did not realize the inaccurate portrayals of right leaning individuals until he met them firsthand.

The full article is well worth the read.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Even he did not realize the inaccurate portrayals of (any group you don't know a lot about) until he met them firsthand.

I've found this is a universal truth. I so wish when we were traveling abroad that we'd had the opportunity to stay with host families.
Our friends who did said it changed everything they thought they knew about the countries we went to, even as we had our own experiences.

I'd add that TV shows and movies are similar - they just about always show conservative ideas in a horrendous light, and the bad guy is never a leftie.
The right is always depicted as ridiculous caricatures of reality, and then you read who the writer is - and then shrug. Of course.
This guy has no idea and has never ventured outside his bubble. He might as well be medieval royalty commenting on the masses.
The contempt is palpable.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
It’s not that media is suppressing stories intentionally. It’s that these stories don’t reflect their interests and beliefs.

Actually, they do suppress stories intentionally. Lewinskygate, anyone?

In fact, they do it all the time. That's why the progs are so clueless and uninformed - their news sources keep them that way.

They also jack up non-stories and make a big deal out of nothing; they also speculate and editorialize instead of just reporting the news. How often have we heard them rail that all Trump supporters are racist/misogynist/white supremacists/ old rich white men/blah blah blah? And yet most of the people I know are Trump supporters, and only one or two are any of those things.

Anyway, this guy still comes across as a clueless prog going to the zoo to see the flyovers in their natural habitat. He had to get a shot at Trump in there, even though Trump is just responding to the onslaught of lies and crap the media and our politicians spew. I, for one, appreciate him fighting back - these people have led the narrative for far too long.
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
I believe the most blatant example of media and their agenda of reporting only what they want us to notice happened during the Obama run for President.
The media absolutely refused to vet Obama.
In fact he still hasn't been vetted.
We still know very little about his background.
So many secrets he paid so many attorney's to keep secret.

For years he had no Birth certificate.A small piece of paper most any American can produce easily.
and certainly something there is no reason for it to be kept hidden for so long.
It went on and on what hospital, what doctor, what country. Tell me please why he let that go on and on for so long.

Then one day the sun shone on it.
The certificate appeared. Suddenly out of nowhere. There it was.
Bright ,shiny and new.
 

lmor

Active Member
Spurred by a fear that red and blue America were drifting irrevocably apart, Is Ken Stern inclined to do something about media bias or only comment on it? Is the man moved to action? How much does he care? Although he is retired, he surely retains a position of influence.
 
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